At this moment, my Hashemi friend entered our house and said: “Tell me the truth. What happened to the bag of money I sent you yesterday?” I narrated all that had happened. He looked down for a moment and then said: “Yesterday when you sent a message asking for help, I had nothing but this bag of money, and I sent it to you. So to get some money for my own expenses I wrote to our other friend, asking for his help. He sent me my own sealed bag, and I remained astonished all this time till you explained the matter.” Waghedi says: “We three divided that money among us, and they offered my wife a hundred drachmas. The strange event was reported to Ma'emoun who summoned me and asked me to narrate the story, and I described exactly what had happened. Ma'emoun ordered to give two thousand dinars individually to all three of us and a gift of one thousand dinars to my wife.”(1)

The above story is a historical incident which has occurred for some Muslims who were educated in the school of Islam. Under the influence of the teachings of Islam, they acquired such fine qualities and human ways, and thus the spirit of brotherhood and fellowship dominated their lives to such an extent. If we study the history of early Islam, we can clearly observe the spirit of brotherhood and fellowship among individuals. In the battle of Ohod, which was one of the toughest of Islamic battles, the Muslims showed a great degree of self-sacrifice. Many groups courageously welcomed martyrdom. And a large number of them fell wounded and half-dead on the battlefield.

Seven Muslim soldiers had fallen wounded side by side, breathing their last. All of them were exhausted and thirsty. A man whose duty was to provide water to the soldiers, came there, but he had enough water for only one man. He came with it to one of them, asking him to drink it, but the wounded soldier said: “Give it to the man who has fallen near me.” So the carrier of water came to the second man who refused to take the water, asking him to give the water to the next soldier.

Thus, the third and fourth soldiers acted in the same way until all the seven of them, in turn, wanted the water to be given to the next man. The water-carrier came back to the first man since the seventh soldier had said that the first man was the thirstiest, but he was found dead by this time. When he came upon the others turn in turn, they, too, had passed away, and thus all of them had died in thirst, and actually taught other people the lesson of self-sacrifice and fellowship.(2)

That was an example of the lesson they had learnt in the school of the great prophet of Islam, and employed it even under the hardest conditions in all aspects of their lives. It is unfortunate that, despite having faith in such a liberating religion and sublime teachings, we are involved in such a condition that the spirit of brotherhood and fellowship is gradually disappearing among us, to be replaced by a dryness and indifference which are the souvenirs of the west. But we should remember that this state of affairs is contrary to Islamic teachings, and a Muslim cannot remain cool and indifferent towards the discomforts of his co-religionist brethren, and be a spectator. The noble prophet of Islam says:

مَنْ أَصْبَحَ لَا يَهْتَمُّ بِأُمُورِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَلَيْسَ بِمُسْلِم

“He who begins his day without endeavouring for the improvement of Muslims' affairs, is no Muslim.” (3) Imam Sadiq, the sixth Imam, says:

خیارکم سمحاوکم و شرارکم بخلائکم و من صالح الاعمال البر بالاخوان و السعی فی حوائجهم و فی ذلک مرغمة للشیطان و تزحزح عن النیران و دخول الجنان.

“The best of you Muslims are those who are generous, and the worst are the mean and miserly. One of the good and admirable acts is to show goodness to co-religionist brethren, and endeavour to meet their needs. Such an act makes Satan abject, and its doer will be immune from the fire of hell, and will approach heaven and eternal happiness.” (4)

A man came to the noble prophet of Islam and complained of being hungry. The prophet sent someone to a number of his relatives to get some food for the man. Unfortunately no food was to be found in their houses. The prophet turned to those who were present and said: “Which of you can take care of this man tonight?” Imam Ali said: “O, prophet of God! I will do it.” Then Ali took the man's arms and proceeded together to his own house. On reaching there, Imam Ali asked his noble consort, Fatima: “What eatables do we have in the house?” She said: “A little food enough for our children.” He said: “We must give priority to our guest over our children and ourselves.”

Upon this verdict, Fatima managed somehow to put the children to sleep without supper, and the Imam placed the food before the guest, and while pretending to repair the lamp, put it out. The guest began to eat in the dark, and the Imam sat by him without touching the food, but making the guest think that his host, too, was partaking of the supper. Thus, that night the Imam, Fatima and the children went without supper, and for the sake of God, showed hospitality to the guest. God Almighty in the following Quranic verse has praised this nobility of character and self-sacrifice:

وَيُؤْثِرُونَ عَلَىٰ أَنْفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ

“...and prefer (them) before themselves though poverty may afflict them...” 5)

Naturally, this conduct is not possible for everyone, and only a supreme man is able to behave in this manner.

Nor has Islam required every follower of its faith to act in this way as a duty, but what is considered a definite and inevitable duty is brotherhood and fellowship, in the sense that a Muslim should help his co-religionist brethren in distress and hardship, devote a part of his wealth to the betterment of the condition of the needy and the helpless, visit sick Muslims, console them, and as far as possible take care of orphans and those who have no guardian, and participate in the establishment of public welfare foundations.

A Greek used to visit Imam Ali frequently and discuss Islamic injunctions with him. When he became sufficiently versed in Islam, and was convinced of its rightfulness, he embraced this faith under the direction of the Imam. When Imam Ali was guiding him about his future duties, he said:

وآمرک ان تواسی اخوانک المطابقین لک على تصدیق محمد صلى الله علیه واله وتصدیقی

“I advise you to assist your co-religionist brethren who are the followers of the prophet of Islam and me, and help them with some of the wealth which God has granted you. Meet their needs, remove their difficulties, and treat them kindly.” (6)

Imam Reza, the eight Imam, says about the rights of co-religionist brethren:

إن من حق المؤمن على المؤمن المودة له في صدره والمؤاساة له في ما له والنصرة له على من ظلمه ... و لايظلمه و لا يغشه و لا يخوکه و لا يخذله و لا یغتابه و لا يكذبه ...

“One of the rights that every believer owes to his co-religionist brother is to love him truly, to help him financially, to show him fellowship, and aid him when he is oppressed by someone... A believer is never unjust to his co-religionist brother, does not deceive or betray him, and allows no slander, nor lies to him.” (7)

He who offers a garment as a gift to his co-religionist brother, will be rewarded with heavenly garments by God, and he who gives a loan to his co-religionist brother for the sake of God, will receive alms by God, and he who removes the sorrow of his co-religionist brother, will be aided by God in removing the sorrow of his life in the hereafter...

Safwan Jamal says: “I was sitting with Imam Sadiq in a gathering when a man of Mecca entered and said that his money was finished and he had no fare left for his return trip.

Source: http://en.al-shia.org/content/brotherhood-and-fellowship-islam-2

NOTES:

______________________________________________________________________

1. Historical stories, Morawej-o-Zahab of Masoudi

2. Majmoal-Bayan,vol.9,p.260

3. Kafi,vol.2,p.146.

4. Majaless-e-Mofid,p.179, Amali Toussi, vol.l.

5. The Holy Quran 59:9

6. Ehtejaj of Tabarsi, p.114.

7. Bihar-al-Anwar, vol.74, p.233.

One of the most important aspects of the Human Rights issue is the respect and tolerance which society must show towards the religions of other people; this, of course, includes the issue of freedom of reli­gion. Tonight I would like to talk very briefly about the Islamic point of view on religious tolerance.

The Qur'anic Point of View

Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, believes in prophets and messengers of God- One inter­esting way of understanding the Islamic view on freedom of religion is to look at the role of the prophets and messengers. Had they been sent to forcefully bring the people into their teachings? Were Moses, Jesus and Muhammad ordered by the Almighty to impose their teachings upon the people by sword? Absolutely not! Look at the Qur'an, the holy scripture of Islam; the revealed words of God where He clearly outlines the duty of his mes­sengers by saying:

“(And as for My messenger,) there is no (obligation) on him except to deliver (the. message). God knows what yon expose and what conceal”.(1)

Once the people of Mecca said to Prophet Muhammad that if god did not want them to worship idols then why He does not forcefully prevent them from doing so. Then God sent the following message:

“(O Muhammad) This is not a new excuse; those who went before, them made, the same excuses. Is there anything upon the messengers except the dear conveying of the message”.(2)

So we see that from the Qur'anic point of view, the mission of the prophets and messengers of God was not to forcefully impose their teachings on the people but to guide them and ask them to accept God with their own will, in one revelation, God says to Prophet Muhammad:

"But if the people turn away (then do not be sad because) We did ma sent you to be a guardian over them. It is for you only to deliver the mes­sage."(3)

The Qur’an clearly says that reli­gion cannot be forced on anyone. It says: "There is no compulsion in (accept­ing) the religion (of Islam)…”

Why? Because: "truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error. " (4)

The Prophet’s Example

The Prophet of Islam faced much difficulty and opposition in his own birth- place, the city of Mecca. He was eventually forced to migrate to Medina. But in spite of all the oppo­sition and even physical torture that his followers suffered in Mecca, Prophet Muhammad always approached the unbelievers of Mecca with tolerance. At one stage of his mission, the Prophet read to them a short chapter from the reve­lation:

“O you who do not believe! I worship not what you worship, and you are not worshipping what I worship; nor am 1 worshipping what you wor­ship; neither -art you worshipping what I worship. Therefore, to you your religion; and to me my religion!”(5)

When Prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina, he found that besides those who hid accepted Islam, there was a large Jewish com­munity in that, city but this did not bother him He did not contemplate on forcing them into the Fold of Islam, instead, he made a peace agreement with them and called them ahlul kitab—the people of the Scripture. This was indeed the supreme example of tolerance shown towards the followers of other religions.

The peace agreement between the Prophet and the Jews of Medina dearly guaranteed the phys­ical safety and security of the Jewish community and also the freedom to practice their religion freely as long 35 that community also abided the terms of the treaty. So we see that even historically, the Prophet of Islam was prepared to live in peace with the followers of other monotheistic religions, espe­cially Judaism and Christianity.

Even the letters that the Prophet wrote to the rulers of various coun­tries and nations around Arabia are interesting documents for our dis­cussion. In none of the letters does the Prophet threaten them of a mili­tary aggression if they did not accept the message of Islam. The letter to the Christian King of Abyssinia ends with the words: "I have conveyed the message and now it is up to you to accept it. Once again, peace be upon him who follows the true guidance." We have an interesting historical document with us from our fourth Imam, ‘Ali Zaynul Abidin (a.s,). This document is entitled as Risalatul huquq which means “The Charter of Rights”.

In this Risalah, the Imam has mentioned rights related to vari­ous issues and people in human soci­ety, the last part is on the rights of non-Muslims in a Muslim society. Among other things, it says: “And there must be a barrier keep­ing you from doing any injustice to them, from depriving them of the protection provided by God, and from flaunting the commitments of God and His Messenger concerning them.

Because we have been told that the Holy Prophet said, "Whosoever does injustice to a protected non- Muslim, then I will be his enemy (on the Day of Judgement)," In a letter which Imam 'Ali wrote for his governor in Egypt, he says, "Sensitive your heart to mercy for the subjects, and to affection and kindness for them. Do not stand over them like greedy beasts who feel it is enough to devour them, for they are of two kinds; either your brother in faith or like you in Creation."(6)

The Muslim History

Unfortunately, the events after the First World War to the present time have created an atmosphere in the Western world where Islam is branded as a religion of terror and where Muslims are generally labeled as terrorists. History books, especially by the Orientalists, like to present the picture of the Muslims as holding the Qur'an in one hand and the sword in another—thus implying that wherever the Muslims went, they gave only two choices to the conquered people: Islam or death.

However, more serious historians would challenge this distorted pic­ture of Muslims. There is no deny­ing that Muslims in Middle East and Asia conquered lands of other peo­ples but they did not impose their religion over them. There is a clear distinction, in history, between, "the expansion of Muslim states" and "the expansion of Islam" as a reli­gion.

For example, Muslims ruled India for many centuries, but majori­ty of its citizens always remained non-Muslims. India came under Muslim rule by force, but Islam pen­etrated among the people of India by propagation and example of the Sufis. This is a fact which has been clearly elaborated by the famous journalist-writer of India, Khuswant Singh, in the first volume of his The History of Sikhs.

Time does not allow me to go into this discussion more than this, but let me say one thing about the issue of tolerance towards minorities and freedom of practicing religion; if we were to compare the attitude of the Muslim rulers towards the minori­ties living under their rule during the nineteenth century—with the atti­tude of the Europeans and the Americans towards their minorities, I dare to say that the record of the Muslims would be much better.

I think it would be sufficient to quote Roderick H- Davison, a prominent Western historian of the Ottoman Empire. On the issue of tolerance towards the minorities, Davison writes:(7)

"It might in fact have been argued that the Turks were less oppressive of their subject people than were Prussians of the Poles, the English of the Irish, or the Americans of the Negroes - There is evidence to show that in this period {late 19th centu­ry}, there was emigration from inde­pendent Greece into the Ottoman Empire, since some Greeks found the Ottoman government s more indulgent master {than their own Greek government}".

NOTES:

____________________________________________________________________

1. The Holy Quran 5:99

2. The Holy Quran 16:35

3. The Holy Quran 42:43

4. The Holy Quran 2:256

5. chap. 109

6. Nahju 'l-Balagha, letter 53

7. Reform of the Ottoman Empire 1856-1876, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1963, p. 116